•Robbie writes: > Instead of steel drill rod, how about a shaft of hard aluminum rod, > which can be coated with a hard black-dyed oxide ("Iodized") by a > local plating shop. -- Robbie You mean "anodized"? Rick Inzero - Rochester, NY, rdi@cci.com [ Oops, you're right: "anodized" is a surface treatm...

•In an attempt to make one of my Foster pianos "pretty" a few years ago I installed the nickel pins with the blued threads from Schaff piano supply company. It was indeed pretty, until two years had passed. The plating on the pins is now flaking and coming off. Now they are ugly. I do not know if it...

•At the risk of offending the sensibilities of some of the purists, I would like to extol the virtues of gold-plated tuning pins. I considered nickel-plating for my Mason & Hamlin Ampico, my one-and- only mechanical musical instrument, and decided they were too garish, so I looked into using gold. I...

•I am willing to rebuild a Seeburg single-strike xylophone action for the cost of materials and shipping both ways. I need the xylophone to copy. Rebuild would not include plating, but does include re-painting with original Seeburg black finish. Restoration references available. Please contact me if...

•Regarding the post from Diane H Kay: Regina used steel to make their discs. They were either tin coated or copper plated. The copper plated discs are better disks but were more expensive to manufacture due to a polishing operation after plating. Tin coated discs present themselves as dull to shiny ...

•I personally get in a hurry to hear some instruments play so they get a 'sixties rebuild. On some really nice pieces I have the plating redone, but I do not plate parts that were originally painted, such as Seeburg roll frames. If a piano is in really good condition and will polish to some extant, ...

•Some info about contacts: Contacts are generally made out of copper that is plated usually with brass, nickel or tin. The plating makes the contact last longer. There are basically three things that make contacts fail: 1. Tarnish. This happens with age. Too much Tarnish and the contact no long cond...

•Just a couple of thoughts on keyboard switch contacts, with no advice at all about cleaning them -- the others are far more expert than I am. The plating on switch contacts is indeed critical. The best of these, sigh, are silver and gold. Gold doesn't oxidize under electric arc conditions, so it re...

•When it comes to rusted screws, as already mentioned it is hard to find good replacements that don't have the threads dulled by the plating or rust protection. But what is best -- to remove the rust and use the screws only to have them rust again? Or to use new screws that don't have the holding po...

•I am in need of a set of Wilcox & White transmission parts. These are cast brass with heavy nickel plating and are separate parts rather than a single transmission unit. Thanks, Dave Krall

•Thank you, all, for the insight and responses. I would not have considered the issues of plating a disc unless I'd asked here. Thanks again, Robert Cruz

•Regarding the copper plated Regina discs [190117 MMDigest], there are some that are original and the new Porter reproduction discs are also copper plated. The original copper plated discs have a more 'muted' color -- they're not bright, shiny plating as in the repros. Many, but not all, of the orig...

•Depending on valve seat material, one need take care to insure that no salt base tanning products are used in the process. If valve seats are metal (brass with plating) or not, or something else which can corrode, it's a bad combination. There are some organ supply companies who can provide acid-fr...

•When building the KT Special replicas in the 1980s I was not happy with either steel wood screws that could rust or those with cadmium or zinc -- plating that made the screws look cheap. So for every size of round and flat head screw used in the instrument we bought that size in steel and had them ...

•I'm looking for someone to clean and repair a 61-note Peerless Forte-Piccolo steel roll player. This music player runs and plays, but the comb is oxidized where it has lost some of its nickel plating, and the four four highest notes have lost their tips. I am sure the spring drive system needs insp...

•I have a National Automatic Music Company coin-op piano for sale. The instrument is complete and about 98% restored; most of the roll changer parts have been re-plated with nickel or chrome plating. The piano action is all new and the piano has been restrung. The front glass is original and the "Mu...

•In the Gulbransen literature, the "Registering" refers to the 88-note, non-reproducing player mechanism. In their words, it "registers the touch", but you have to do it all by yourself with the pedals and levers. The auto sustain? Well, you either have it or you don't. It's a single pneumatic on ta...

•--- forwarded message, please reply to sender & MMD --- At 04:18 5/29/97 -0700, Bill Momsen wrote: > I have for sale a Chickering baby grand in a semi-art case with an > Ampico "A" reproducer. It is circa 1924 I believe. It was completely > rebuilt about ten years ago by Larry Broadmoore, including...

•--- forwarded message, please reply to sender and MMD -- From: nbrass@peganet.com (Bill Momsen) Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 12:43:27 -0400 (EDT) I was referred to you by Larry Fisher, who said you might give me a rough idea of what my piano may be worth. I realize that you can't be to accurate without s...

•Andy Taylor wondered about reducing roll friction against the tracker bar. 20+ years ago good old PPC sold a spray-can lubricant for this purpose. Unlike silicone sprays, it dried hard and was supposed to last for a while. I used it on my Duo-Art with no ill effects, though I can't swear that it he...